There has been a recent viral craze around choreographed Wedding dances on You Tube and you have probably seen this latest instalment which made its past Ellen, right into 6 o

To escalate his goal to get News readers paying for online content Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch recently announced that New Corps will begin implementing susbscription measures into all their online papers. “Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting,” Murdoch said.

The details around payment options were vague suggesting a mix of online subscriptions, charging fees to read single stories and selling content on new platforms such as mobile reading devices.

However be prepared for these measures to come in soon; ”We’re thinking in terms of this financial year,” Mr Murdoch said.

Two years ago, with Ad Dollars still flowing strongly through News Corp, Murdoch maintained that online content would remain free for users; a sustainable model given the steady flow of Advertising revenue. Since then however the Global Recession has seen advertising budgets halve and clients demanded performance media buys, online inventory has devalued into Click and Acquisition based pricing models. All media publishers including News Corp have been unable to withstand the financial repercussions and last week they posted a USD 3.4 billion loss to 2008.

The Wall Street Journal, one of Murdoch’s most prized publications, is currently running on a subscription basis. It

I was just in a store and heard a song that shot hot liquid brass out of the speakers into my nerves, and 2 hours later I’m here the proud downloader (from iTunes that is) of two of the band’s album. They are the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and are a Chicago based nine-piece brass band. I had never heard them before today and from a few Google Searches I’ve discovered that they have been gigging for years in subways and street corners, realeasing trickles of singles and lives sets. Their self titled album was released in the US earlier this year and is their first professionally produced album and promises every shade of brass, from rust green bronze to platinum gold, with the power to hypnotise.

So what does this have to do with Marketing.

1. I converted twice in the span of an hour with out any prior brand contact

2. I’m listening to it on repeat

3. I’ve just posted a rave review with a link to the album

These three things are exactly what any product marketing team is hoping their traffic will do, and these three things are exactly what make a brand successful.

This band nor their record label ‘Honest Jon’s Records”, have the funds or industry influence to get much commercial radio play or do the PR, Talk Show circuit and so must rely on their fan base; from individuals telling their friends directly and bloggers/ music reviewers writing pieces on the group – as their primary acquisition channel, which is fairly daunting. However for many smaller companies, bands, designers, artist, NGO, etc – this is the only option they have to work with. But if you can get this to work not only will it provided the strongest ROI, it will also provide you with a long lasting and genuine relationship with your customers.

If you are planning on going for a more grass roots style pull strategy the most important requirement to get you high off the launching pad is amazing product and good timing (find the right people at the right time).

Apple have done this time and time again, from the first PC to iPod’s and iPhones. Mozilla are another example of a no budget advertising campaign that have today achieved them over 1 billion downloads. These organisations not only have quality product to offer they more importantly have a loyal fan base that will taut their tunes for them.